Description:Undated,
Image shows on the left King Lane leading down to the outer ring road. Over the roundabout can be seen on the left the site that will be used for the construction of the Moor Allerton shopping centre and library. Visible in the distance is St Stephen's Church. On the right in the foreground is Queenshill Drive.

User Comments:

Name:

Michael Taylor

Comment:

Does anyone know what stood adjacent to the Moor Allerton Centre before Sainsbury's etc were built

I would think this photograph was taken around the late 1950s, possibly even the early 1960s. I remember in the early 1950s visiting an aunt and uncle who were one of the first tenants of the Tynwald estate and the area looked very different then. When they moved there from Potternewton Lane, although the house had been built, they were still waiting for street lights and roads to appear! There were no shops, library etc and the bus from Leeds city centre terminated at the junction of Scott Hall Road and King Lane; it seemed (for a young child) a very long walk from there to where St Stephens Church now stands! I remember the local “bobby” told my cousin and his pals off when he caught them playing on the building site for the church which followed at a later stage.
The Queenshill estate hadn’t been built, nor had the Leafields or Leafield Towers; both sides of King Lane leading downhill towards the Ring Road were farmers’ fields, sometimes with horses in them.
On the other side of the Ring Road, leading uphill, the land now occupied by the Moor Allerton Centre was grassland with a stream running through. I think the stream was probably diverted underground somehow to allow the land to be built on. This area is well-known for underground springs and wells though, which probably explains why the land still becomes so waterlogged after heavy rain.
The flats on the right of King Lane were there in the early 50s and were the first phase of housing construction for the Lingfield and Fir Tree estates; the houses themselves followed later.
The land opposite Allerton High School (now occupied by the Deanswood estate, Alwoodley and St Paul’s Primary schools, the Moortown Social Club etc) was also grassland and the only construction there in the early 1950s was a wooden hut used by the Council so that tenants of the new properties could pay rents, report repairs etc.
When I started at Allerton High School in 1960 the bus route had been extended to run along King Lane but even then it was single lane traffic in either direction; the land now occupied by the “Park & Ride” was part of the school grounds. The houses facing the back of Allerton High School on the other side of Nursery Lane hadn’t yet been built and this was also open fields.

Select the size, finish and quantity of the photograph you require. If you require sepia toning please tick the appropriate box. Please note the size of the photographs will be as near as possible to that requested, however to avoid distorting the image sizes may not be exact. VAT will be added to the order at checkout.